Mage talent analysis

This page is meant to provide some advice to Mage players seeking to make their own talent builds and examine the value of specific Mage talents.
It presents views on the usefulness of talents in solo leveling/farming, raiding, and PvP.
A comprehensive list of established talent builds can be found at Mage builds.

With the new requirement as of Patch 4.0.1 that at least 31 talent points must be spent in the primary tree before any can be allocated to secondary trees, cross-specialization is no longer as prominent as it once was.

Mastery - Mana Adept, increases all spell damage up to 12%, based on the amount of mana the Mage has unspent.

The Arcane tree has a special emphasis upon mana management unlike any other class found in the game. This is especially true of raiders, but can also apply to PvP Arcanists who have a high degree of Mastery invested in their gear. The new Arcane tree carries a wide variety of utility talents which can be situationally used in PvE or PvP.

PvP-oriented Arcanists can choose to offspec into the Fire tree for powerful utility talents such as Burning Soul, Blazing Speed, and Impact, all of which indirectly contribute to the Arcanist's utility and viability. Alternately, speccing into the Frost tree for Early Frost, Shatter, and Piercing Chill will make some of the Frost tree's powerful snares available to the Arcanist.

Requires at least 5 points in Arcane talents.2 points: You gain a 5/10% damage bonus for 8 seconds after successfully interrupting a spell.

Increases your damage output during a time when you have your opponent at a disadvantage. Note that this talent only triggers when you actually interrupt a spell, not when you silence a target, and does not work when you interrupt your own spells (e.g., clipping Arcane Missiles).

Solo Utility: Filler, and there are better talents at this tier.

Raid Utility: Far too situational to be useful; this talent doesn't work with Improved Counterespell, and you won't be the only interrupter in a raid to begin with.

PvP Utility: Important, since this talent opens an eight second window where you can proceed to unload upon an opponent.

Talent Synergy: None.

Bottom Line: Worth at least a second look for a PvP mage, but anybody else can safely skip it.

While you'll be using this spell as an escape tool most of the time, it's also useful for chasing down a fleeing enemy and finishing him off. The Arcanist's answer to Blazing Speed, only it can be triggered on command.

Solo Utility: Useful while leveling since Arcane mages have few tools when low-leveled, but its value drops sharply when you pick up Slow.

Raid Utility: Mobility is never a bad thing in PvE, but two talent points for a highly situational advantage at best is pushing it.

PvP Utility: Invaluable as an escape tool, a pursuit tool ... really, it helps you control the distancing, which is huge in PvP.

Talent Synergy: None.

Bottom Line: A good utility tool for the PvP mage, but filler for anyone else.

Raid Utility: Indirect damage boost, but a massive boost nonetheless, since the two minute Evocation helps maintain the Arcanist's mana, and thus his DPS by way of his Mastery. Having Arcane Power available more often as well is just the icing on the cake. A big, delicious chocolate cake.

PvP Utility: All four abilities and spells are useful in PvP, and Evocation can be used to reset fights when glyphed.

Requires at least 10 points in Arcane talents.1 point: Grants you the Presence of Mind ability. When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 seconds becomes an instant cast spell.

Instant Polymorphs. Instant Arcane Blasts. Instant Frostbolts. No instant teleports or portals, unfortunately, as the talent calculates from base casting time. This talent cannot be active if Arcane Power is also active.

Solo Utility: When pulls go awry, throw an instant Fireball or Frostbolt can be the difference between life and death.

Raid Utility: Not much of a DPS increase in a raid, but you'll take it anyways for Arcane Flows.

PvP Utility: With points in Improved Polymorph, it's a stun on command. With points in Piercing Chill, you can slow your opponents to a crawl. It also procs Arcane Potency, improving your burst damage, and isn't that what PvP is all about?

Requires at least 10 points in Arcane talents.3 points: Reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6% and reduces the fade time of your Invisibility spell by 1/2/3 seconds.

At max rank, you instantly turn invisible. Compared to that the damage reduction is pure bonus.

Solo Utility: Fairly useful, as you can end a fight instantly if you feel the need, which can happen while leveling.

Raid Utility: 6% damage reduction won't prevent you from dying in one hit, but it will slightly lessen the effects of unavoidable damage, and instant Invisibility can be used to dodge certain mechanics as well as drop aggro completely. Consider Improved Blink as an alternative.

PvP Utility: The Arcanist's great recovery cool, this talent helps you escape from bad situations to regroup. Very useful in arenas and battlegrounds.

Talent Synergy: None

Bottom Line: Useful in PvP and solo. For raiders, it's a filler talent, but an interesting one if you can spare the talent points.

Requires at least 15 points in Arcane talents.2 points: When a target you've Polymorphed is damaged, that target is stunned for 1.5/3 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds.

Opens a three second window during which you can burst your opponent down. It also forces PvP opponents to either delay use of a PvP trinket in order to break the stun or trinket immediately and risk another Morph-stun combo; either way, you win.

Solo Utility: Lets you open up against humanoid or beast critters with a slight time advantage, or create distance if you lose control.

Raid Utility: Useless against bosses, but it can be a lifesaver when a loose add is killing raiders and must be immediately controlled. Far too situational to be part of a standard raid spec, however.

PvP Utility: A mage can do a lot of things in a three second stun window, including fade to Invisibility.

Requires at least 15 points in Arcane talents.2 points: When your Mana Shield or Mage Ward absorbs damage your spell damage is increased by 10/20% of the amount absorbed for 10 seconds. In addition, when your Mana Shield is destroyed, all enemies within 6 yards are knocked back 12 yards.

This ability places a spellpower buff on you when you absorb damage from your personal shields.

Solo Utility: When a pull goes bad, Incanter's Absorption could be a lifesaver if Invisibility is on cooldown.

Raid Utility: Not very useful, as a boss will destroy you with your Mana Shield in a single hit. And spending 5000 mana for 1000 spellpower for a mere 10 seconds is not using your mana pool wisely. The elemental absorption from the Mage Ward is too situational to compensate.

PvP Utility: Mana Shield remains a desperation tool, but it now can be used to create distance against melee attackers, while the Mage Ward absorption empowers you against spellcasters.

Requires at least 20 points Arcane in talents.1 point: Grants you the Slow ability. Reduces a target's movement speed by 60%, increases the time between ranged attacks by 60%, and increases casting time by 30%. Lasts 15 seconds. Slow can only affect one target at a time.

The most feared, versatile, and powerful snare available to any player in the entire game. It affects casting speed, movement speed, attack speed.

Solo Utility: Extremely useful spell which allows a mage to practically eliminate one mob from a pull.

Raid Utility: You'll take it for Arcane Power and not much else, since bosses can't be snared. Potentially useful if you are relegated to being the sole kiter of a single mob.

PvP Utility: Increases damage when used with Torment the Weak, slows melee to a crawl and makes them virtually sitting ducks, greatly reduces Hunter damage, and slows spellcasters making them much more suspectible to interrupt. Practically hands you control of distancing. Did we mention that it's 200% spammable and effective on all classes?

Requires at 20 least points in Arcane talents.Requires 1 point in Slow.2 points: Gives your Arcane Blast a 50/100% chance to apply the Slow spell to any target it damages if no target is currently affected by Slow.

Ties the Slow spell to your stand-and-deliver nuke as an Arcanist.

Solo Utility: Now you can slow your pulls without using a global cooldown. Not much more utility beyond Slow itself, however.

Raid Utility: Useful on council-type boss fights with multiple bosses, or if you need to snare and kill an add, or if (heaven forbid) your tank isn't applying attack speed snares.

PvP Utility: While Arcane Blast is not the primary spell for PvP as Arcane, it makes that spell so much more deadly on the chance that you can cast it.

Requires at 25 least points in Arcane talents.1 point: Grants you the Focus Magic ability. Increases the target's chance to critically hit with spells by 3%. When the target critically hits your chance to critically hit is increased by 3% for 10 seconds. Cannot be cast on self.

You need to be within 100 yards of the spell recipient for this talent to work. Note that it only procs on spell criticals.

Solo Utility: You'll be alone, so ... what's the point?

Raid Utility: Very useful. By helping someone else's DPS, you also help your own, and the uptime can be close to 100% if cast on the right person.

PvP Utility: Good to cast on a fellow spellcaster, and it's an extra spell to serve as dispel buffer.

Requires at least 30 points in Arcane talents.Requires 1 point in Slow.1 point: Grants you the Arcane Power ability. When activated, you deal 20% more damage but spells cost 10% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15 seconds.

Your DPS and DPM increase, although this ability cannot be used with Presence of Mind.

Fire spells are traditionally harder-hitting and burstier in nature, resulting in higher sustained single-target damage. The Fire tree also has a strong emphasis on damage-over-time effects and AoE, with many talents bolstering one or both. With no direct defenses of note, the Fire mage lives by his wits as the proverbial glass cannon: kill fast, die fast.

Requires at least 5 points in Fire talents.2 points: Gives you a 5/10% chance when hit by a melee or ranged attack to increase your movement speed by 50% and dispel all movement impairing effects. This effect lasts 8 seconds.

Removes all stuns, slows, and snares when it activates. While unreliable, it can destroy much of an opposing melee's game completely at random.

Solo Utility: If a pull goes bad, you have a chance to get away and try again, which is certainly preferable to dying.

Raid Utility: You'll die before it gets a chance to proc. Borderline useful at best, not worth passing on other talents in this tier for.

PvP Utility: Frees you from rogue stunlocks, warrior charges and hamstrings, hunter kiting, and can be used as a last-ditch attempt to turn the fight around with Molten Shields.

Requires at least 5 points in Fire talents.2 points: Gives your damaging spells a 5/10% chance to reset the cooldown on Fire Blast and to cause the next Fire Blast you cast to stun the target for 2 seconds and spread any Fire damage over time effects to nearby enemy targets within 12 yards.

This spell helps tangle up mobs from time to time, as well as providing another method for a Fire mage to AoE his targets. It has impressive synergy with Ignite and Combustion, allowing a mage to spread the damage on one target to others surrounding it. Since the damage is spread by DoTs, AoE caps do not apply to Impact blasts.

Solo Utility: While the stun is short, it does permit you to interrupt mob actions and give extra burst.

Raid Utility: Bosses are immune to stuns, but you'll still take this talent for the way it cleans up trash, as well as a massive DPS boost to any raid encounter with a significant add component.

PvP Utility: You use Fire Blast aplenty in PvP and the extra stun comes in handy.

Requires at least 10 points in Fire talents.2 points: You have a 50/100% chance that an attack which would otherwise kill you will instead bring you to 40% of your maximum health. However, you will burn for 12% of your maximum health every 1.50 seconds for the next 6 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.

Requires at least 10 points in Fire talents.1 point: Grants you the Blast Wave ability. A wave of flame radiates outward from the target location, damaging all enemies caught within the blast for X fire damage and slowing them by 70% for 3 seconds.

A ranged snare available to Fire mages, this ability is no longer restricted to being centered on the caster.

Solo Utility: You can use this spell with a Pyroblast opener to slow your opponent, buying precious time to eke out another attack.

Raid Utility: Bosses can't be snared; take it for adds or trash if you have Improved Flamestrike, but skip it otherwise.

PvP Utility: A good getaway tool, and also a good tool when you need to catch an opponent for a kill. Together with Improved Flamestrike it becomes a high-damage instant spell against any opponent with a pet.

Free Scorches for the pyromancers! Used with Master of Elements, a Fire mage can actually regain mana by spamming Scorch and Hot Streak nonstop.

Solo Utility: If you use Scorch a lot, you can also use Mana Shield as a personal defense. You shouldn't have to do either, however.

Raid Utility: Useful only if your mana bar is completely drained, you have no Mana Gem left, your Evocation is on cooldown, you have no potions, and the fight is still far from over. In other words, useless.

PvP Utility: Scorch is a primary spell for the PvP pyromancer, but mana efficiency isn't a big deal in PvP.

Talent Synergy: None.

Bottom Line: Overall a lackluster talent. You shouldn't have to spend any filler points in this.

Requires at least 15 points in Fire talents.1 point: Grants you the Combustion ability. Consumes all your damaging periodic Fire effects on an enemy target, instantly dealing X to Y Fire damage and creating a new periodic effect that lasts 10 seconds and deals damage per time equal to the sum of the consumed effects.

While it has to micromanaged somewhat, this talent gives you an exceedingly potent damage cooldown that can easily inflict 100,000 or more damage to a single target if timed and aimed correctly.

Solo Utility: You'll generally kill a mob before your dots stack up to the point where Combustion deals high damage, but it can be useful for elites or group pulls when used with Impact.

Raid Utility: Automatically increases the damage of your Ignites to 200% of base spell damage when used on a boss, and it can be spread via Impact as well. A very powerful cooldown made even more useful during the Molten Fury phase.

PvP Utility: While it's liable to be dispelled quickly, Combustion with Impact in a crowded battleground is your ticket to wiping out an entire enemy team.

Requires at least 15 points in Fire talents.Requires 1 point in Hot Streak.2 points: Any time you score 2 non-periodic critical strikes in a row with your Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Scorch, Pyroblast, or Fire Blast spells, you have a 50/100% chance to trigger your Hot Streak effect.

Unlike the base talent, this talent guarantees the Hot Streak effect upon two criticals. They don't have to be criticals with the same spells. Note that instant Pyroblasts cast by the Hot Streak effect do not count for or against subsequent Hot Streak calculations.

Solo Utility: Even more DPS and mobility for the soloing mage.

Raid Utility: Boosts your DPS by a lot, and it scales with the crit rating on your gear. A chain of Hot Streak procs is usually good preparation for a massive Combustion combo.

PvP Utility: Take the Hot Streak talent and then inject some turbo fuel into its veins, and you have this talent in PvP.

Requires at least 20 points in Fire talents.2 points: Reduces the casting time of your Flamestrike spell by 50/100% and gives you a 50/100% chance that your Blast Wave spell will also automatically Flamestrike the same location if two or more targets are affected by the Blast Wave.

Another powerful AoE talent in the Fire tree, this one lets you blanket areas in Flamestrikes and adds a Flamestrike for free to Blast Wave when you catch two or more enemies, turning Blast Wave into a high damage instant cast.

Solo Utility: Allows you to cast ranged AoEs on the move, useful for training large numbers of mobs.

Raid Utility: Good for cleaning out trash packs in dungeons or raids, but you'll want to shelve this talent against bosses unless a heavy add component is present.

PvP Utility: Your opponents should be losing count of the number of instant-casts you have by now.

Talent Synergy:Blast Wave, Impact (gives you two chances to proc Impact off a single spellcast)

Bottom Line: While not an essential talent to have, it does greatly expand the options available to all three types of pyromancers.

Requires at least 20 points in Fire talents.1 point: Grants you the Dragon's Breath spell. When cast, targets in a cone in front of the caster take X Fire damage and are disoriented for 5 sec. Any direct damaging attack will revive targets. Turns off your attack when used.

The Fire mage's answer to Cone of Cold. Targets of this spell receive reasonably good damage and are unable to act for the duration of the disorient effect.

Solo Utility: Invaluable for tough situations when you have to get them away and run.

Raid Utility: It's extra AoE if you can spare the point, not to mention a prerequisite for Living Bomb.

PvP Utility: Invaluable to keep melee away from you as they should be in PvP.

Talent Synergy: None.

Bottom Line: Anyone who can get in close quarters combat should take it. And even if you never use it, you'll still take it in order to pick up Living Bomb.

Requires at least 20 points in Fire talents.3 points: Increases damage of all spells against targets with less than 35% health by 4/8/12%.

Useful for Boss fights and elites, where you will be able to get enough hits in at 12% increased DPS. This talent also helps when AoE spells are used, accelerating mob death past the 35% health mark. Optimally it speeds a kill by 4% for three points: .12*(.35*100) = 4.2.

Solo Utility: Useful combined with all your other AoEs, but not worthwhile otherwise.

Raid Utility: "The last 35% of a raid boss fight can be the most critical, with low mana and dead players. By the 35% mark, aggro is firmly established and DPS classes are free to unload, making the effective DPS increase much more valuable." quoted from Molten Fury. Many raid bosses with significant burn phases occur at or near the 35% mark.

PvP Utility: Can make the difference, but basically just increases DPS. Less stellar than in PvE Raid.

Talent Synergy: None.

Bottom Line: No Fire Raid Mage would want to be without this gem, marginally useful otherwise.

Requires at least 30 points in Fire talents.Requires 1 point in Dragon's Breath.1 point: Grants you the Living Bomb spell. The target becomes a Living Bomb, taking X Fire damage over 12 sec. After 12 seconds, the target explodes dealing Y Fire damage to up to 3 enemies within 10 yards. Limit three targets.

A high-damage and efficient Damage over Time spell. The only non-AoEDoT spell available to Mages, it has the damage of a lengthy stationary spell with the mobility afforded by an instant spell.

Solo Utility: Fire soloing is based around taking out opponents fast, so this won't have enough time to tick too much damage.

Raid Utility: Keeping it up on a boss target increases single-target DPS by around 10%. That is one of the highest DPS increases in the Fire tree, for a single point.

PvP Utility: Very useful, as it allows the Fire mage to deal mobile DPS and adds yet another dispel buffer.

Bottom Line: Every endgame Fire Mage should pick it up, but it's not terribly useful when leveling. Its AoE power has been nerfed significantly, but its single-target damage in long fights remains as potent as ever.

The Frost tree has an emphasis in control and survivability talents such as Permafrost and Ice Barrier. It sacrifices some of its single-target DPS in exchange for powerful snares, higher mana-efficiency, and higher burst damage than other trees that makes it excel in fights that include multiple adds or are longer than average. Its control and longevity earned it the crown of most recognized PvP Mage tree.

Solo Utility: This talent is perhaps the main reason why most mages favor farming and leveling as Frost. Combined with Frost Nova and the Water Elemental's Freeze spell, you will be critting mobs a lot. Highly useful and recommendable.

Raid Utility: While raid mobs can't be frozen by conventional means, Fingers of Frost circumvents that by merely treating them as frozen when it procs. Combining both talents results in a DPS increase by increasing your instant spells' crit rates. And DPS is what raiding is all about.

PvP Utility: Frost Mage burst relies on this talent. A Frost mage's many freezing effects combined with this talent make him both a very strong and very resilient foe. This talent is a must.

Requires at least 5 points in Frost talents.3 points: Your Chill effects reduce the target's speed by an additional 4/7/10%, and the target's healing by 8/16/25%. In addition, whenever you deal spell damage, your Water Elemental is healed for 5/10/15% of the amount dealt.

The Frost tree is most notable for its powerful chill effects. This talent boosts them very well.

Solo Utility: Helps a whole lot. Snared mobs take longer to get to you, and give you a chance to run. Your Water Elemental will appreciate the healing.

Raid Utility: Borderline useless. Most raid mobs are immune to snare effects and the Water Elemental has 90% AoE damage reduction.

PvP Utility: Essential. Chills provide the Frost Mage's control and survivability in PvP, the healing makes the Water Elemental so much harder to kill, and the healing debuff on your opponent is gravy.

Requires at least 10 points in Frost talents.3 points: Gives your Chill effects a 10/20/30% chance to grant you the Fingers of Frost effect, which causes your next Ice Lance or Deep Freeze spell to act as if your target were Frozen. Fingers of Frost can accumulate up to 2 charges and lasts 15 seconds.

Designed to work with Shatter and chill effects which are basically all Snares in the Frost tree. You aren't limited to expending your charges on the same enemies either.

Solo Utility: Provides extra crits against targets immune to Freeze effects, which you probably don't want to solo in the first place. Increases your damage significantly.

Raid Utility: Since it's a self-buff it also works on Raid bosses. Essential for Deep Freeze and Ice Lance combos, which make up a significant part of your damage.

PvP Utility: When it procs this self-buff increases crits, which is useful in PvP, since opponents will usually try to get out of chill effects (snares) or freezes (roots) pretty fast. It also provides an opportunity to use Deep Freeze creatively.

Adds extra power to your Water Elemental by giving two Fingers of Frost charges on demand.

Solo Utility: Allows you to set up a massive Shatter combo right as your Water Elemental nails a mob to the ground. And if it can't be frozen, you can still use a charge to trigger Deep Freeze for high damage.

Requires at least 15 points in Frost talents.3 points: Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 4/7/10%. In addition, your Frostbolt spell has a 33/66/100% chance to grant up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 1% of their maximum mana over 10 seconds.

Extends your mana bar by 10%, which stretches Frost's already efficient spells even further. Replenishment is a nice buff to bring to raids.

Solo Utility: Filler, but it does decrease downtime dramatically.

Raid Utility: Raids assume that you will have Replenishment, but this is still a filler talent.

PvP Utility: Mana is less of a concern in PvP, unless you happen to be caught in long arena battles.

Talent Synergy: None.

Bottom Line: Not an essential talent by any means, but feel free to spend extra talents here.

Raid Utility: Resets your damage cooldowns Icy Veins. And if you lost the Elemental for any reason, you can get it back again immediately.

PvP Utility: Frost Mage survivability is reliant on this talent. It resets all your defensive cooldowns and gives you a fighting chance against a tough foe or provides you burst damage when you need it most.

Requires at least 15 points in Frost talents.3 points: Your spells no longer trigger Arcane Missiles. Instead, your Frost damaging spells with chilling effects have a 5/10/15% chance to cause your next Fireball or Frostfire Bolt to be instant cast and cost no mana. When Frostfire Bolt is cast, it can benefit from Fingers of Frost. Brain Freeze cannot be triggered by Frostfire Bolt.

A free Fireball or Frostfire Bolt every 20 frost spells per talent point spent, on average.

Solo Utility: This talent does reduce downtime a little, but its real value lies on the mobility aspect it provides.

Raid Utility: The Frost tree's response to Hot Streak. An instant, free Frostfire Bolt is nothing to sneeze at, especially when reinforced by Fingers of Frost.

PvP Utility: An instant spell able to snare, apply a dot, and apply a debuff has great value.

Requires at least 20 points in Frost talents.Requires 1 point in Ice Barrier.2 points: Gives your Ice Barrier spell a 100% chance to freeze all enemies within 10 yds for 3/6 seconds when it is destroyed.

Turns Ice Barrier into an offensive ability in addition to its defensive capabilities when used right, to force Shatters. Improves Ice Barrier's control function by making sure enemies not immune to Freeze effects are frozen once it ends.

Solo Utility: Extra control is useful when doing many mobs or mixed pulls with casters you can't avoid. It doesn't do extra damage but can trigger a combination with Shatter. A must-have for Frost AoE grinding.

Raid Utility: A DPS-optimized Frost build won't have the points to spare. Raid mobs tend to be immune to freezes.

PvP Utility: Useful. It does require your enemy to break the Ice Barrier in melee range to get frozen in turn, or that they use a DoT ability while in range. Shatter then increases burst damage, but smart PvP opponents will adapt and break your Ice Barrier from range.

Far more efficient than Mana Shield. Ice Barrier receives 80% of your spell power as extra protection too, at no extra cost.

Solo Utility: Extra survivability on a short 30 sec cooldown. Very useful when doing many mobs or mixed pulls with casters you can't avoid. A must-have.

Raid Utility: While this won't actually help you defeat bosses, it does soak incidental damage and is required to unlock Deep Freeze.

PvP Utility: Very useful. Damage absorption is always useful in PvP. Can also be used to force a freeze effect for a Shatter combo when coupled with Shattered Barrier, both a survivability AND burst boost against melee such as Rogues coming at you from Stealth.

Requires at least 20 points in Frost talents.Requires 1 point in Ice Barrier.2 points: Gives the caster a 50/100% chance for the Ice Barrier spell to automatically activate with no mana cost upon taking damage that lowers the caster's life below 50%. This effect obeys Ice Barrier's cooldown, and will trigger the cooldown when activated.

When you're being beaten up and can't spare the mana or the GCD to activate Ice Barrier, this might just save your life.

Solo Utility: Gives you a chance to fight back against a pull that has gone badly.

Raid Utility: Useless, since the same attack that lowered your life below 50% also killed you.

PvP Utility: If you need this talent, you are already in a bad position to begin with. It can turn the tide, though.

Requires 30 points in Frost talents.Requires 1 point in Ice Barrier.1 point: Grants you the Deep Freeze ability. Stuns the target for 5 sec. Only usable on Frozen targets. Deals a high amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns.

Instantly stuns enemies and counts as a Freeze effect. Can force Shatters on enemies when coupled with Fingers of Frost, but keep in mind it does no damage of its own unless the target is permanently immune to stuns.

Solo Utility: Rather weak when dealing with a single target as you're better off just damaging them. When pulling multiple mobs, though, it can be used to increase Shatterable time on more than one Frozen target.

Raid Utility: This talent is by far the most damaging Mage spell once it comes off cooldown and you have a Fingers of Frost charge.

PvP Utility: Forces burst onto a defenceless enemy. Interrupts spell casts and stops melee in place when used with Fingers of Frost. Gives you amazing control and extends Shatter combos beyond a single Frost Nova. This talent is very useful.